Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1883 — DEATH IN THE DARK. [ARTICLE]

DEATH IN THE DARK.

Collapse of an Old Pier at a Maryland Excursion Resort A Crowd of Excursionists Instantly Hurled Into the Waters Below. Between Seventy and Eighty Persons, Mostly Women, Drowned. Near the City of Baltimore, Md., a rotten pier at a picnic resort gave way under the weight of a large number of people. They crowded together with a view of securing a sure passage by a barge which waa making her last trip for the night Out of 200 people who were thrown into the water, between seventy and eighty were drowned. Baltimore dispatches give the following details of the horror:

In point of horror and fatality combined, no catastrophe has ever been written in the annals of Baltimore that will compare with the awful loss of life in the night-covered waters of the Patapsco at Tivoli last evening. A crowd of pleasure-seekers, weary after the sports of the day, were gathered on the wharf as the barge that was to bear them to their homes approached. No thought of danger was in th&r minds. With scarce a moment’s warning, the structure gave way; and the immense mass of humanity was plunged into the waters, where the darkness shut them out of sight In hundreds of homes last night anxious wives, husbands and parents were awaiting the arrival of the excursionists, and the anxiety became Intense as the email hours of the morning came on At 2:30 o’clock the barge reached Henderson's wharf, bringing its awful tale of woe, and freighted with the forms of twenty-eight drowned men. women, and children The anxiety of the parents gave place to horror and grief, and the friends of the missing grew wild with terror. , * Almost half of the excursionists passed the night around the blazing fires on the, shore, where those who had been rescued from the waves were seeking to dry their dripping clothing. The scenes on tne grounds during the night were indescribable and awful. The noisy cries of children and the hoarse shouts of men and the piercing notes of grief of the women were as nothing to the terrible silence of the four, hours that preceded the dawn, when noth* ing was heard but an occasional dull moan or the call of one of those who were watching by the shore for the bodies of the dead. From what could be gleaned from the remarks of individual witnesses of the terrible accident it appears that the disaster occurred a very few minutes after l(*>0 o’clock. The wharf did not break; the piles spread The crowd stood in a bunch in the center of the wharf which was but poorly supported underneath by logs and consequently the jarring of the barge when she struck the wharf gave the shock which caused the piles to spread and let down the center of the wharf with its crowd of living beings into the water. The planks were of course unable to support the heavy weight and so snapped short off, thus giving rise to the supposition that they had broken. The Itev. W. E. Sterr, pastor of Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church, was an eye witness of the disaster, and gives a graphic account of it “There is a long wharf at Tivoli,” said ■ he, “running put from the shore perhaps 1,020 feet Near the shore end there are large gates, which are generally closed upon the arrival of the boats. Last night a number of persons, fatigued, and desiring to obtain advantageous positions on the boat, strolled out upon the wharf before the arrival of the barge, so that at the time she came in sight there were probably between 200 and 300 persons on the wharf between the gates. I, myself, together with some few others, had gained the extreme end of the wharf beyond the boat-gate where thdbarge made fast. Meanwhile both gates had been closed, and the keeper of the one toward myself and the boat-gate would not allow any one to pass, evidently thinkin’g, poor fellow, they were safer on the outsida The people near the boat were just walking over the gang-plank when I heard a crash behied me, and saw a dark hole in the wharf and a mass of human beings struggling in the water beneath, while others on the wharf were pushing and jostling each other in frantic endeavor to reach a place of safety. Men and women were shrieking and yelling and children crying, while from the dark abyss below the most heart-rending cries were heard, only to end in gurgling sounds as the helpless beings succumbed to the cruel waters. Then ensued a scene of indescribable confusion. Stools, piles of plank everything available, were thrown into the .water in the midst of the struggling mass, until it became evident that some who might be saved from death by drowning vtould become victims of the heediessness of those who, with the best intentions, but very poor judgment, were casting the heavy articles into the water. I,‘ myself, stepped on a parallel wharf, on which there is-a small track, and made my way back to the scene of the disaster. I endeavored to calm'the tumult, but as well might I have tried to stop the earth from revolving on its axis. Those who were safe had suddenly conceived the idea that the boat was unsafe, and refused to go on board. I reasoned and persuaded, but only a few followed my advice. I told them that their friends in’the city, as soon as they learned of the accident, would mourn them as among the victims, but my efforts proved fruitless, and when we did start for Baltimore, more than half were left down there.”

In meantime, efforts to rescue the drowning persons were beipg made by a few brave young men, and quite a number of ladies and others, who were well nigh dead, had been brought up and lay dripping on the wharf. When the Cockade City arrived on her second trip, about 9 this morning, she brought with her thirty-five additional bodies, and the remainder of the excursionists who had remained over night at Tivoli searching for their filenda Many were crying bitterly, while the haggard, tear-begnmed faces of the others showed the intense suffering they undergone. AR had lost friends or relatives, many of them more than one. There were parents leading children, sobbing as if their hearts would break As soon as the barge arrived, at 9 o'clock, the bodies were hurried into an empty building on Hendersons wharf, ana laid out on the floor, awaiting identification, which was not long coming, as none of the bodies had been in the water long enough to suffer any disfiguration, and were conseqently easily recognizable. The news of the accident had brought to the scene nearly every one who had friends on the excursion. Every few minutes, as the crowd passed slowly in and out of the room viewing the bodies, a piercing shriek and ejaculation of “Oh, my Godi” would announce that some unfortunate one had been recognized. Young girls and strong men sobbed and cried like children. Many men and women were hurrying from one person to another, asking if such and such person had been found. The bodies already brought to this city number sixty-six It is now thought that the loss may reach 100. » The picnic grounds where the terrible calamity occurred is on a small bay about two miles from North Point lighthouse. It was formerly known as Holly Grove, was first fitted up about fifteen years ago, and was the most popular report at that time and for several years afterward.